Raising a glass to the best wine of 2022

It's the first Saturday in January and here you are - reading the wine column!

Have you no shame? Or do your resolutions not start until Monday? Well, tipplers, in that case you may join my club. I know, I know, you wouldn't be part of any club that would have you. Wise decision.

Anyway, to assist me in observing my own New Year resolutions my darling wife, the redoubtable Madame G., has helpfully threatened to lock up the wine cellar at our lovely home, Rose Cottage, on Monday morning and to hide the key in a very private place. Nonetheless, my livelihood dictates that I continue to direct any wine-gleugging reprobates out there who can still cobble together the price of a wee swallie towards some dacent bottles. And not just any old wine; today I dish out the gongs for the best wines I tasted in 2022. Drum roll, maestro.

BEST RED WINE (£10 or less): the big, bold and intensely fruity 2019 Cigar Box Cabernet Sauvignon (£7.99, Lidl). A smooth, juicy palate with pronounced notes of plum and black cherry leads to a satisfyingly lengthy finish with luxurious strands of vanilla and a hint of dark, bitter chocolate in this muscular Chilean red. It will go equally well with either liver or kidney and onions with mash potato and thick meaty gravy for those of us on a budget or steak frites and bearnaise sauce for those of us who aren't.

BEST WHITE WINE (£10 or less): the taut, bone-dry and very elegant 2022 Society's Chenin Blanc Stellenbosch (£8.50, The Wine Society, telephone 01438-741177 or visit www.thewinesociety.com). Easy-drinking, versatile and gloriously refreshing, this fabulously fresh, zesty South African white is full of sharp lime and gentler tropical fruit flavours on a lively palate alongside notes of mineral and alluring floral aromatics before a lingering, discreetly acidic finish. An ideal match to poultry or seafood, it actually graced the Christmas table at Rose Cottage.

BEST SPARKLING WINE (£10 or less): the delicate, delightfully dry, brick-red Maurice Bonnamy Cremant de Loire (£10, SuperValu). Teeming with bright redcurrant, strawberry and lemon flavours, this ferociously lively and crisp sparkling rose represents excellent value. One to enjoy with canapes- as I recall, Madame G. and I had ours with blinis topped with cream cheese and smoked trout before the aforementioned Christmas dinner.

You'll notice that all today's recommendations cost £10 or less. That's partly due to the current cost of living crisis. But it's got even more to do with me being mindful of the fact that most of you, even during happier economic times, inevitably find yourselves hopelessly skint following the excesses of Christmas. And probably the only reason you're still drinking is to distract yourselves from the awful misery of your dire financial situation. I can only apologise for bringing it to your attention yet again. Have another glass. Resolutions don't start till Monday.

Rich folk, please tune in next week when I'll have a few of the best luxury recommendations from 2022 which are literally just for you. And me. All that remains now is for me to seduce my Madame and persuade her to reveal the whereabouts of that cellar key.

Till next week, tipplers, sante!